Along with unfulfilled New Year's resolutions and empty political campaign promises, there are plenty of unfinished strategic planning goals… many of them never started. My friend and colleague Ralph Spencer posed an interesting question to me the other day: what are the five best practices (and by inference, the five worst) associated with the successful implementation of a plan?
The failures are pretty dramatic, so I'll start with them first:
Lost in the Clouds: I've already written reams about how to do planning well… the key is to make sure the plan is focused on outcomes and results. Too many plans are all about vision and lofty proclamations. A bold view of the future is a part, but only a part, of a good strategic plan. At some point vision needs to be translated into achievable goals. The more tangible, realistic and clearly stated those goals are, the more likely they'll actually materialize. Saving whales, achieving world peace, curing malaria and removing us from the scourge of junk-e-mail forever are noble thoughts, but plans need to come down to earth and connect to things we can see and feel in our everyday lives.
Fourth and Long: A corollary to being lost in the clouds is failing to finish the plan by converting visionary goals into action plans. Stating the goal is necessary, but not sufficient… goals need to be clarified with detailed objectives and action plans that spell out just exactly what is to be done, who is to do it, under what timeframe and with what resources. Failure to specify any one of these items, action, accountability, time and resource requirements is a sure way for something not to happen. Unspecified plans are the equivalent of the unfunded mandate in legislatures… all fancy talk and no action because there are no funds to get the job done.
Never Look Back: Unfulfilled plans are a sign that no one is watching. Plans need to be managed. Even ones with clear actions identified will peter out unless someone is monitoring the plan to assure the actions are being completed and the results are being obtained. Writing the plan and boldly marching of into the future is not enough; the plan needs to be managed, monitored, evaluated and revised.
Weak Hearts: If plans are any good they challenge an organization… usually all of its parts of it to, as I like to put it, "take one giant step forward." Every so often leadership loses confidence somewhere in the middle of the planning process. It all becomes too much… too much change, too hard, too expensive. Poised to make bold strategic moves, leadership goes through the motions knowing the plan is never going to happen, at least not on their watch. Leadership is about courage and willingness to take on risk. Leaders who like the return but are unwilling to pay the costs are not leaders.
When the Going gets Tough: A corollary to #4, except this time leadership gets cold feet in the middle of implementing the plan. It seems too hard or too expensive. The rewards seem distant, the cost of change is immediate. A lack of resolve and a failure of patience lead many plans to no end.
The best practices are, as you've probably already figured out, simply corrections of the errors listed above.
Leadership Buy-In: The leadership of the organization need to understand before the planning process begins what they're getting into. Some organizations and some leadership teams are simply not ready to write a plan, much less implement one. They need to know from the start that planning opens up all of an organization for inspection and questions all the assumptions it is based upon (even those as fundamental as its business model). Leaders need to be prepared for a plan that takes their organization in new, unimaginable directions. If they are not warned about the possibility of watching their organization re-invent, sometime re-birth itself, shock is likely to ensue. Even courageous entrepreneurs can be shaken by a truly bold plan. Organizational leaders need to be informed in advance of the planning process what risks and costs may befall and they need to step forward to support and champion the process as it unfolds and the plan as it is implemented. Most importantly, resource requirements specified in the accumulated action plans must be funded through the budget.
Stakeholder Buy-In: Someone, usually not leadership, is going to have to implement the plan. Whether it's employees or staff, members or clients, the plan's successful implementation is dependent upon many people, most of whom are not part of the planning process. In that last sentence is the kernel of a best practice critical to getting results out of a plan: involve as many people in the planning process as you can who are going to implement or be affected by the plan. Even in large corporations and communities that's not as hard as it sounds. Planning is a process with many steps, some of which can be completed remotely. There are ways to involve everyone in parts of the process especially at the end when action plans are being set. It is inexcusable to keep people uninformed about the process and its progress. The plan should never be a surprise to those who will have to implement it (or deal with the consequences of its implementation) and where-ever and when-ever possible planning teams should solicit input as to how to make the plan happen.
Appoint a Czar: Someone must oversee the implementation of the plan and work with leadership, managers, employees and stakeholders to assure the work gets done and the results are achieved.
Don't Give Up: Goals are hard to achieve. What was easy to conceive on paper as part of the planning process can be extraordinarily hard to do. Three traits are essential for effective planning: persistence, patience and flexibility. Sticking to the plan and trusting the judgment of those who created it (which in some manner should include everyone who has an interest in the organization) takes persistence. Things can take awhile to unfold, patience is required to see things through to the end… everything, like baking bread, needs the right amount of time to come to completion. What planning teams conceive is sometimes in opposition to reality or unaware of unforeseen events encountered in implementing the plan… as the plan encounters these realities, the planning manager needs to have the freedom to modify the plan and it actions.
Mind the Details: Based on
what I listed as failures, this could easily be #1 best practice. The plan's goals must be converted into objectives with clear, measurable results backed up by action plans that specific accountability links, time frames for starting and ending and financial and other resource requirements.
It's Just a Plan for Crying out Loud: Plans are meant to be implemented, but they shouldn't overwhelm good judgment. While I think there is an organizational imperative to implementing plans, I stop short of seeing a moral imperative. There are some who, once the plan is completed, will treat it as a holy document never to be questioned. There's a big difference between raising legitimate questions about how to implement a plan and not implementing it at all. Plans guide human behavior, they don't dictate it. Plans should be honored, consulted and followed, not obeyed. Ultimately the plan itself will need to be changed (certainly updated within a year of its creation) if not abandoned in favor of a new one altogether. Avoid strict constructionist interpretation of the plan. Plans are human creations. Attaching to them divine or supernatural qualities is a mistake.
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